Plenty Womanhttp://plentywoman.com
You Are Everything Anxiety Says You're NotFri, 22 Sep 2017 00:32:32 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.2https://i1.wp.com/plentywoman.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/cropped-Plenty-Woman-Logo-1.jpg?fit=32%2C32Plenty Womanhttp://plentywoman.com
3232112444705Into the Garden: Guided Meditation (6 MINUTES)http://plentywoman.com/beautiful/garden-guided-meditation-6-minutes/
http://plentywoman.com/beautiful/garden-guided-meditation-6-minutes/#respondFri, 01 Sep 2017 03:40:56 +0000http://plentywoman.com/?p=1900In this 6-minute guided meditation, take a walk into the garden. Use the recording or, if you’re leading a meditation, you can read it yourself using the transcript below. Into the Garden Close your eyes and breathe easy. You’re standing at the entrance of a garden. The […]

]]>http://plentywoman.com/beautiful/garden-guided-meditation-6-minutes/feed/01900The Sweetest Boy She Never Knewhttp://plentywoman.com/other-writing/sweetest-boy-never-knew/
http://plentywoman.com/other-writing/sweetest-boy-never-knew/#respondMon, 31 Jul 2017 02:45:32 +0000http://plentywoman.com/?p=1820Has your anxiety ever convinced you to reject someone you really wanted to be with? I’m not talking about some obvious asshole, who you’re attracted to but know would be nothing but bad news. I’m talking about rejecting someone sweet, who seems like they’d be […]

]]>Has your anxiety ever convinced you to reject someone you really wanted to be with? I’m not talking about some obvious asshole, who you’re attracted to but know would be nothing but bad news. I’m talking about rejecting someone sweet, who seems like they’d be really great for you. I carried guilt and regret about this very thing for years…until I told my story, and worked it out, in a guest post for my friend, James Gummer — The Sweetest Boy She Never Knew.

]]>http://plentywoman.com/other-writing/sweetest-boy-never-knew/feed/01820Wendy Whelan’s Story Begs the Question: What’s Wrong with Seeing a Woman in Decline?http://plentywoman.com/other-writing/wendy-whelans-story-begs-the-question-whats-wrong-with-seeing-a-woman-in-decline/
http://plentywoman.com/other-writing/wendy-whelans-story-begs-the-question-whats-wrong-with-seeing-a-woman-in-decline/#respondSat, 01 Jul 2017 02:02:02 +0000http://plentywoman.com/?p=1804I need a reminder now and then that getting older is a good thing. I found one in Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan, an extraordinary documentary about her retirement from the New York City Ballet. Here’s a piece I wrote about it for The Huffington Post — Wendy […]

]]>http://plentywoman.com/other-writing/wendy-whelans-story-begs-the-question-whats-wrong-with-seeing-a-woman-in-decline/feed/01804The Worst of It Is Cheesehttp://plentywoman.com/powerful/the-worst-of-it-is-cheese/
http://plentywoman.com/powerful/the-worst-of-it-is-cheese/#respondThu, 01 Jun 2017 00:18:38 +0000http://plentywoman.com/?p=1772“The results will take two weeks,” my doctor told me. “But you’ll only hear from me about it if something is wrong.” As she explained this, I got the sense it should be a relief for me to hear this – that as long as […]

]]>“The results will take two weeks,” my doctor told me. “But you’ll only hear from me about it if something is wrong.” As she explained this, I got the sense it should be a relief for me to hear this – that as long as I didn’t hear from her, my pap test was fine and I had nothing to worry about – but all it did was freak me out more than I already was (see my pre-doctor’s visit anxiety).

What if “two weeks” isn’t exact? What if it sometimes takes two weeks and a day? Or two weeks and two days? Or, worse, what if my test got lost but my doctor didn’t notice because it’s only when the results come through that she’s reminded of me and that I’m waiting to not hear from her? (A doctor whom I picked because she looked friendly in her picture and she turned out to be exactly that friendly, so I’m holding on tight to the notion that she doesn’t actually suck.)

The point is, even when the two-week mark came and went, I refused to let my guard down. Because in that anxious state, I was at least prepared for the worst. What if I let the worry go only to find out something was horribly wrong? How would I handle it? For a mind like mine, being surprised by bad news is worse than my active (prepared) worry coming true.

Fortunately, this is all water under the bridge as it’s been six weeks since the test and I haven’t heard a thing.

Well, that’s not exactly true.

No word on the pap test, but it turns out my cholesterol is a little high so the doctor said to cut back on red meat (no problem, as I haven’t had it in years) and cheese (a big problem, as I eat it every day in great quantities). But considering all of the horrible things I was worried about being wrong with me, I’m pleasantly surprised to learn the worst of it is cheese.

This should prove (for the thousandth time) that the things I worry about hurting me rarely happen and, in fact, it’s the worry itself that usually ends up hurting me the most. But worry plays tricks on you. It wants you to think it’s like that burn you get when you’re exercising. That it might hurt, but it’s good for you. With the help of my worry journal, I will continue to remind myself that it’s just not true.

]]>http://plentywoman.com/powerful/the-worst-of-it-is-cheese/feed/01772The Doctor Is Going to Find Something Horribly Wrong with Me: Worry Journal Exercisehttp://plentywoman.com/powerful/doctor-going-find-something-horribly-wrong-worry-journal-exercise/
http://plentywoman.com/powerful/doctor-going-find-something-horribly-wrong-worry-journal-exercise/#commentsWed, 12 Apr 2017 16:44:44 +0000http://plentywoman.com/?p=1557I haven’t had a physical exam in over 7 years. Not because I’m afraid of going to the doctor (even though I am and self-diagnose every chance I get). Or because I was raised to stay away from doctors (even though I was, because the […]

]]>I haven’t had a physical exam in over 7 years. Not because I’m afraid of going to the doctor (even though I am and self-diagnose every chance I get). Or because I was raised to stay away from doctors (even though I was, because the only thing they can be trusted to do is find something wrong with you). But because I’m self-employed, didn’t want to spend the money on expensive health insurance, and getting an exam without it didn’t seem like an option. Because if – and by if, I mean when – they found something horribly wrong with me, I would have been financially screwed.

I’m a healthy person, I reasoned. I can get away with not going to the doctor. If I felt like something was wrong, then I would go. And I did two or three times in recent years, but never for anything requiring more than a quick look at me and a prescribed round of antibiotics. Not counting two trips to the ER – one for a toothache in the middle of the night, another after a fall I took scaling a wall trying to catch my neighbor’s rabbit when it escaped from my yard while I was bunny-sitting. (Bittersweet ending: As soon as I slammed my back into a raised concrete garden bed on my patio, the rabbit returned.)

As of March 1, my reactive healthcare approach was no more.

I got tired of paying the penalty for not having insurance. Plus, I’m a 44-year-old woman; not getting checked at this age feels irresponsible. The point is, I have health insurance now. I’m going to the doctor April 25 so they can finally run all the tests they need to find something horribly wrong with me.

Rest assured, I’m doing all I can to thwart their efforts.

For starters, I picked the least alarmist-looking doctor I could find who is in-network. I get that won’t prevent her from finding something horribly wrong. But that reassuring smile of hers tells me she usually has a pretty good feeling about things. And in those rare cases that she does find something horribly wrong, she tells you in a way that’s matter-of-fact, but hopeful.

Second, I’m getting as healthy as possible before the appointment (i.e., taking my vitamins). Seriously, why distract my doctor with a vitamin deficiency? Sure, she might just tell me to take a supplement. But she might also see it as a symptom of a bigger problem, especially in combination with other symptoms. That could mean an unnecessarily anxiety-inducing wild goose chase, filled with expensive tests that I’ll have to pay for because of my bajillion-dollar deductible.

No. I have to take care of everything as much as I can first. Andy, my fiancé, doesn’t like the sound of that. Not because he doesn’t want me doing things that will make me feel better, but because he thinks I put too much pressure on myself to do it all. Also, he thought I meant I wouldn’t go to the doctor until I’d done “everything,” which I quickly assured him wasn’t true (even though maybe it was a little) and made a doctor’s appointment the very next day. Besides, when “everything” is limited to vitamin-taking (and turmeric, which I’ll get to), that’s a to-do list that gets done pretty quick.

Situation / Trigger

My first physical exam in years

Negative Thought

Anxiety Level

9

Evidence For

1) My body has been doing weird things lately. My periods are shorter and I’ve had some abdominal pain. Something is going on.

2) The last time I remember getting a pap smear, there was something weird about it. It’s a little fuzzy now, but something about possible scarring from an old infection I never even knew I had. Here I am worried about weird things I can see and feel my body doing. What could be worse are the things going on for which I’m seeing no symptoms at all.

3) Just a few days after getting health insurance — when my doctor/death diagnosis anxiety was at its peak – the universe (i.e., Amazon) called my attention to that show, Catastrophe. When she went to the doctor, all Sharon was supposed to be was pregnant. She was that, but “pre-cancerous” too. I had to stop watching because it was too much of a trigger and will get back to it after (a) I get a clean bill of health (at least on the cancer front) or (b) I need to find the humor in my own pre-cancer diagnosis.

Evidence Against

1) Bustle cites studies finding that 2 to 6 percent of women get abnormal pap smears at least once in their lives. And an abnormal pap smear doesn’t necessarily mean cancer, or even pre-cancer. It can be inflammation.

2) There’s no history of cancer in my family. There have been a lot of heart problems, but I feel pretty healthy in that department. It’s my grandmother’s diabetes that worries me most, but if that’s the worst of it, at least that’s treatable.

3) The power of positive affirmations. I’ve been saying for years I’m going to live to be 120.

What’s More Likely

There’s something wrong with me, but it’s not horrible. It’s perimenopause. Or benign ovarian cysts. Or the turmeric I was taking for depression in hopes I could nip that in the bud, too, before seeing my doctor. Unfortunately, taking turmeric coincided with my abdominal pain. I looked into it and evidently turmeric stimulates the uterus, which should be a good thing, but I stopped taking it just in case.

Whether turmeric had anything to do with my abdominal pain or not (which has since subsided), it was a good reminder of the potential repercussions of self-prescribed natural treatments for things – like depression – that might be best left to doctors and drugs.

Alternative Thought / Positive Affirmation

The doctor is going to help me feel better.

Anxiety Level

What’s Worrying You?

Keep your own worry journal and work it through. I picked up this tool in cognitive behavioral therapy. Inevitably, my anxiety level at the end of the exercise is less than it was when I started. I hope it works that way for you, too.

]]>http://plentywoman.com/powerful/doctor-going-find-something-horribly-wrong-worry-journal-exercise/feed/21557Foods for Anxiety: What to Eat and Whyhttp://plentywoman.com/how-to/foods-anxiety-eat/
http://plentywoman.com/how-to/foods-anxiety-eat/#respondSun, 19 Mar 2017 20:40:30 +0000http://plentywoman.com/?p=1324In all the attention I’ve paid to anxiety-minimizing things in recent years, I’m sorry to say eating foods for anxiety has been close to the bottom of the list. The thing is, I’ve never been one of those people who notices much of a difference […]

]]>In all the attention I’ve paid to anxiety-minimizing things in recent years, I’m sorry to say eating foods for anxiety has been close to the bottom of the list. The thing is, I’ve never been one of those people who notices much of a difference in how I feel because of what I eat. (Except for too much caffeine or chocolate cake for breakfast; sadly, that difference cannot be ignored.)

For instance, I’m not vegan anymore, but when I was the first thing most people would ask is if I noticed a difference in how I felt. I wanted to say yes, and knew other vegans who felt a lot better, but I wasn’t one of them. I’d stopped eating meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy and, as far as I could tell, my body felt exactly the same.

I’m not saying there is no difference in how I feel depending on what I eat, only that I tend to attribute the way I feel to anything but food.

But after looking closely at the link between nutrition and anxiety, the connection is one that shouldn’t be discounted. Whether I recognize it or not, the presence (or absence) of key vitamins and minerals in my body could very well be contributing to my anxiety.

Just to be clear, I am not a nutritionist and there is no guarantee that eating these foods for anxiety will improve the way you feel. Also, none of the information included here should replace the advice of a medical professional. That said, I’ve done a ton of research and cited everything thoroughly.

About My Research

In my research of foods for anxiety, eight vitamins and minerals stood out as particularly important in anxiety management:

B1 (thiamine)

B2 (riboflavin)

B6 (pyridoxine)

B9 (folate)

B12 (cobalamin)

Vitamin C

Calcium

Magnesium

This information comes from three main sources, which are cited throughout the post:

My own picks for the top 20 foods for anxiety (based on my own criteria outlined below)

Foods for anxiety categorized by vitamin and mineral content

Foods for anxiety: My top 20

As you dig deeper into this post, you’ll see there is quite a variety of foods for anxiety to incorporate into your diet. So many, in fact, that it might feel a little overwhelming. To make it more manageable, I came up with a top 20 you might want to focus on first.

For foods to make this list, they had to:

Contain more than one of the vitamins or minerals that might help with anxiety

Contain 10 percent or more of the daily recommended allowance of these vitamins or minerals

Be foods that naturally contain these vitamins and minerals (i.e., not fortified or enriched, though you will see these foods in the next section organized by vitamins and minerals)

Here are the foods for anxiety that made my top 20 cut, including that food’s key vitamin and mineral content relative to anxiety:

Vegetables

Broccoli (B9, vitamin C)

Brussels sprouts (B9, vitamin C)

Green peas (B9, vitamin C)

Potatoes (B6, vitamin C, magnesium)

Spinach (B9, vitamin C, magnesium)

Fruit

Avocados (B9, magnesium)

Orange juice (vitamin C, calcium)

Nuts

Almonds (B2, magnesium)

Peanuts (B9, magnesium)

Dairy

Cottage cheese (B6, calcium)

Milk (B2, B12, calcium)

Swiss cheese (B2, B12, calcium)

Yogurt (B2, B12, calcium, magnesium)

Fish and shellfish

Clams (B2, B12)

Salmon (B2, B6, B12, calcium)

Trout (B1, B12)

Meat and poultry

Beef liver (B2, B6, B9, B12)

Chicken breast (B2, B6)

Other

Black beans (B1, magnesium)

Eggs (B2, B12)

Foods for anxiety categorized by vitamin and mineral

Again, my research on foods for anxiety turned up eight vitamins and minerals particularly important to anxiety management — five B vitamins, vitamin C, calcium, and magnesium.

A few things about these food lists:

1) I’ve indicated when eating a food raw or cooked makes a difference to vitamin or mineral content.

2) These lists contain several fortified and enriched foods. If they’re fortified, it means vitamins and minerals were added that weren’t there before. If they’re enriched, it means vitamins and minerals were added that were lost during food processing.

If you’re wondering whether our bodies properly absorb the nutrients in fortified and enriched foods, this article says they do.

3) I’ve included foods that contain 10 percent or more of these vitamins and minerals. Use the links to see longer, more comprehensive lists.

Feel free to just scan this section for the food lists, but if you have the time, I hope you’ll read up on why these vitamins and minerals are so helpful.

For instance, I don’t love chickpeas. I’d probably eat more just knowing that I should. But I’m a lot more likely to eat them knowing they’re super rich in B6, which helps produce mood-enhancing serotonin and norepinephrine.

There are similarly-motivating facts about all of the other foods for anxiety in these lists. Best of all, chances are good that for every vitamin and mineral, you’ll see foods you already eat and love.

B Vitamins

“The B vitamins are necessary to help maintain the proper functioning of the nervous system. Deficiencies, especially of vitamin B1, B2, B6, and B12, can lead to anxiety, irritability, restlessness, fatigue, and even emotional instability.” ~Dr. Edmund J. Bourne, The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook1

*One serving of these foods provides 10 percent or more of the recommended daily value. See the National Institutes of Health for alonger list of selected B1 foods (as well as serving sizes and daily value percentages).

Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)

Riboflavin helps change vitamins B6 and B9 (folate) into forms your body can use. This can help with anxiety because both B6 and folate play a role in enhancing your mood.

*One serving of these foods provides 10 percent or more of the recommended daily value. See the National Institutes of Health for a longer list of selected B2 foods (as well as serving sizes and daily value percentages).

Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine)

Vitamin B6 helps the body produce mood-enhancing serotonin and norepinephrine. These are the same chemicals that are affected by medication commonly prescribed for anxiety and depression – SNRIs, or serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors.

*One serving of these foods provides 10 percent or more of the recommended daily value. See the National Institutes of Health for a longer list of selected B6 foods (as well as serving sizes and daily value percentages).

*One serving of these foods provides 10 percent or more of the recommended daily value. See the National Institutes of Health for a longer list of selected B9 foods (as well as serving sizes and daily value percentages).

Vitamin B12 (cobalamin)

B12 works with B9 (folate) to produce S-adenosylmethionine, or SAMe, which affects mood. (SAMe can also be taken as a supplement). B12 is only found naturally in animal products, so if you’re vegan or vegetarian, pay special attention to making sure you’re getting enough from B12-fortified foods and a supplement.

*One serving of these foods provides 10 percent or more of the recommended daily value. See the National Institutes of Health for a longer list of selected B12 foods (as well as serving sizes and daily value percentages).

Vitamin C

“It is widely known that during times of stress your body tends to rapidly deplete stores of B vitamins and vitamin C…. Vitamin C helps to support the adrenal glands, whose proper functioning is necessary to your ability to cope with stress.” ~Dr. Edmund J. Bourne, The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook2

*One serving of these foods provides 10 percent or more of the recommended daily value. See the National Institutes of Health for a longer list of selected vitamin C foods (as well as serving sizes and daily value percentages).

Calcium

“It is widely known that calcium can act as a tranquilizer, having a calming effect on the nervous system…. Depletion of calcium can result in nerve cell overactivity, which may be one the of the underlying physiological bases of anxiety.” ~Dr. Edmund J. Bourne, The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook3

*One serving of these foods provides 10 percent or more of the recommended daily value. See the National Institutes of Health for a longer list of selected calcium-rich foods (as well as serving sizes and daily value percentages).

*One serving of these foods provides 10 percent or more of the recommended daily value. See the National Institutes of Health for a longer list of selected magnesium-rich foods (as well as serving sizes and daily value percentages).

What to expect

Do I expect changing my diet will make my anxiety go away? No. Do I expect it to make a difference? I’m hopeful. Even if eating foods for anxiety makes a small difference, that’s enough for me. Because in my experience with managing anxiety, that’s the best I can hope for – little things adding up to something big.

Do you notice if what you eat affects your anxiety? What foods have you found to be helpful, if any? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

Please note, none of this information should serve as, or replace, professional help for an anxiety disorder. I hope it is helpful, but if you have an anxiety disorder — or think you might — please seek out a therapist and/or support group in your area. The website of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) is a great resource.

]]>http://plentywoman.com/how-to/foods-anxiety-eat/feed/01324Happy International Women’s Dayhttp://plentywoman.com/inspiring-women/happy-international-womens-day/
http://plentywoman.com/inspiring-women/happy-international-womens-day/#respondThu, 09 Mar 2017 03:13:28 +0000http://plentywoman.com/?p=1317In celebration of International Women’s Day, I devoted much of mine to editing and uploading to Pinterest 64 pics of the best signs (and crowd shots) I saw at Women’s March Los Angeles. I hope this collection makes you feel as good about both of these […]

]]>http://plentywoman.com/inspiring-women/happy-international-womens-day/feed/01317Female Friends United and Divided Over Women’s March and Trumphttp://plentywoman.com/other-writing/female-friends-united-divided-womens-march-trump/
http://plentywoman.com/other-writing/female-friends-united-divided-womens-march-trump/#respondThu, 09 Feb 2017 16:44:19 +0000http://plentywoman.com/?p=1284My good friend Danny Pulley went to the Women’s March on Washington. I sat down with Danny a few days after she got back to ask her about why she marched, the DC experience, and how she talked to her students about it (she’s a […]

]]>My good friend Danny Pulley went to the Women’s March on Washington. I sat down with Danny a few days after she got back to ask her about why she marched, the DC experience, and how she talked to her students about it (she’s a Los Angeles public school teacher).

We also talked about how to respond to women who criticize the marches, as this was something I saw from a couple of my own friends on Facebook. (This piece starts with how I handled that uncomfortable experience.)

]]>http://plentywoman.com/other-writing/female-friends-united-divided-womens-march-trump/feed/01284Resolutions You Can Do Just Half the Time and Still Feel Good Abouthttp://plentywoman.com/other-writing/resolutions-can-just-half-time-still-feel-good/
http://plentywoman.com/other-writing/resolutions-can-just-half-time-still-feel-good/#respondMon, 23 Jan 2017 21:26:21 +0000http://plentywoman.com/?p=1280If you like the sound of resolutions you can do just half the time and still feel good about, I’ve got some ideas for you. Check out my four resolution suggestions (whether you start in January or July) in my guest post for Outrageously Wonderful.

]]>If you like the sound of resolutions you can do just half the time and still feel good about, I’ve got some ideas for you. Check out my four resolution suggestions (whether you start in January or July) in my guest post for Outrageously Wonderful.

]]>http://plentywoman.com/other-writing/resolutions-can-just-half-time-still-feel-good/feed/01280Paint by Touch: Guided Color Meditation (4 Minutes)http://plentywoman.com/powerful/paint-touch-guided-color-meditation-4-minutes/
http://plentywoman.com/powerful/paint-touch-guided-color-meditation-4-minutes/#respondThu, 12 Jan 2017 03:13:41 +0000http://plentywoman.com/?p=1263In this 4-minute guided color meditation, you begin in front of a giant white canvas. No watercolors, no paintbrush. But that’s okay; you won’t need them. Use the recording or, if you’re leading a meditation, you can read it yourself using the transcript below. Paint by Touch […]

]]>In this 4-minute guided color meditation, you begin in front of a giant white canvas. No watercolors, no paintbrush. But that’s okay; you won’t need them. Use the recording or, if you’re leading a meditation, you can read it yourself using the transcript below.